Insect Macro Photography

Note: Before anyone starts asking, the focus bracketing feature in E-M10 Mark II does not work with my usual macro shooting technique. For the focus bracketing to work the camera must not move when the bracketing was in action, and tripod use is a must. 

In the very beginning of my early adventures of photography, I started with insect macro photography, something I did fairly often. Macro photography is probably one of the technically more demanding types of photography, it is an all rounder in getting all your photography basics right. You have to take care of accurate focus, steadying your shots with proper hand-holding techniques, trying different techniques to gain magnification and more importantly, the use and control of additional lighting which usually require diffuser or reflector. 

After shooting a little bit of insect macro last weekend (for the OM-D E-M10 Mark II review), the itch to hunt for insects returned, and I decided to do a little macro shooting this weekend. In this blog entry I shall share my techniques and execution of insect macro photography. 

Before proceeding further, kindly take note of the following important points:

1) For new comer to photography, do not skip your basics. If you still struggle in understanding the relationship between shutter speed, aperture and ISO, then make sure you master these very fundamentals of photography before venturing into macro photography. 

2) My techniques are not entirely made by me, I devised it based on information I have read, observation of other macro photographers as well as my own limited experience in shooting. Each time I go out I did trial and error experimentations. It is still work in progress, hence my technique I am sharing is not perfect, and there is plenty of rooms to improve. 

3) My technique may not necessarily work for you. There is no right and wrong, there are more than one ways to accomplish the same goal. Pick what works for you best. 

WHAT I USE FOR MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY

1) A camera, of course, and my own camera is the OM-D E-M5, I also use any other OM-D cameras. For this weekend, I have used the new OM-D E-M10 Mark II. A camera with a viewfinder, ability to do macro, or attach a macro lens, and have wireless flash control capability. 

2) A macro lens. I used Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 Macro. 

You need a true macro lens for the large magnification. For Olympus 60mm I get 2:1 magnification in 35mm equivalent format. 

3) External flash, fired off camera. I had the Olympus FL-50R. 

I have tried many methods of flash use in macro photography and find using wireless flash to be most practical. Most of the insects do not just sit on top of the leaf posing nicely for you. They often hide underneath the leaves, behind the branch, or sticking vertically on a tree trunk, with their face looking down to the ground. With flash being attached on top of the camera, I have no control of where the direction of light will fall, and often not successfully light the parts of the frame that I want. By moving the flash away from the camera, I can position in anywhere I want, and this has allowed me to shoot at very difficult angles. 

4) Mini Softbox attached to the external flash unit. I had recently acquired the Gamilight Box 21. 

I have previously created my own diffusers or reflectors, from all kinds of materials, including shoeboxes, but they did not last very long and I could only used the fragile constructions for a few limited times. Now I decided to not go through so much trouble each time I needed to shoot macro and just bought a proper mini softbox. Gamilight Box 21 was the only one I could find within short notice, and it was not expensive, and got the job done decently. 

1/125sec. F11, ISO200, Wireless Flash fired

1/80sec, F5.6, ISO640, no flash used

1/160sec, F11, ISO200, Wireless Flash fired

1/125sec, F7.1, ISO200, Wireless Flash Fired. 

Note: image rotated 180 degrees. The spider was originally UNDER the leaf (as seen on the leaf structure)

1/125sec, F13, ISO200, Wireless Flash fired

1/160sec, F16, ISO200, Wireless Flash Fired

Note: image rotated 180 degrees. The spider was originally UNDER the leaf (as seen on the leaf structure) I decided to rotate the image because the image made more sense this way. 

MY MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES

I did not do anything different than what I have already described many times before whenever I am blogging about macro photography. Here is what I do to accomplish my high magnification shots

1) I hold the E-M10 Mark II with 60mm F2.8 Macro lens attached on my right hand, singe-handedly. 

2) On my other hand (left, obviously) I had the FL-50R flash, with the Gamilight Box 21 mounted. 

3) The camera was set to manual focus, and I decided what magnification I needed before I shoot. The smaller the insect, the larger the magnification that I need, and most of the time the magnification is close to full 1:1. 

4) I shot through the Electronic Viewfinder all the time (make sure you calibrate the diopter settings to fit your eyes perfectly. Or else everything will appear out of focus). I then moved the camera closer to the subject, until I saw the insect in focus. I rocked myself slightly back and forth until I can see the parts I wanted in focus appear sharp. Yes, the electronic viewfinder has sufficient resolution and sharpness to do this. It was clear enough to differentiate the in focus zones. Focusing is extremely important, and crucial. Even one mm away from the focal plane, you will get soft output. 

5) The flash I was holding on the left hand was aimed at above the head of the insect, simulating light coming from side, and above the head (much like what a photographer would do for shooting a human portrait with one light setup). The camera to flash wireless TTL communication was engaged. 

6) First frame was fired as a test for getting exposure right. Then some quick adjustments were made and a few subsequent frames were shot to ensure accurate critical focus. Focusing was the most difficult thing to achieve, but can be done quite efficiently with sufficient practise and experience using this technique. 

MY CAMERA SETTINGS FOR MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY

The camera settings I used are as follows:

Full Manual Exposure. 

Because I want everything in control. I do not trust the camera. The camera did not do anything wrong to me, it was me having issues. 

Shutter speed 1/80sec to 1/160sec

I will slow the shutter speed down if I need to gather more ambient light (not turn everything to sea of black in the background). 

Aperture about F8-16 

The closer I am to the subject, the larger the magnification needed, the tinier the insect is, the smaller aperture is needed to maximize the captured depth of field. 

ISO200. At all times. 

Flash set to wireless TTL, controlled via camera wirelessly

through Remote Control mode. I will adjust this as necessary, via the flash exposure compensation. I find the flash TTL to work rather accurately most of the time. When they do not work (about 1 in 20-30 shots) I will override the TTL settings and control the flash manually (setting the power levels, 1/1, 1/4, 1/32, etc)

Live View Boost on. 

If you disable this, with F16, ISO200 and 1/160sec shutter speed under dark shade conditions, you will see all black. 

Manual focus. 

Adjustment of focus based on magnification factor as indicated on the lens (1:1 full magnification, 1:2, less or more depending on the size of insect and how I want to frame my shots). 

An important tip: for most cameras these days, you can save your macro settings to a shortcut menu (I assigned to the ART option in the mode dial). So I can access all these settings quickly during shoot. Another benefit of using customized settings in the shortcut is that, when I see something else I want to shoot but I do not intend to use all the manual focus, wireless flash, F16, or etc, instead of changing all the settings one by one, I can just turn the mode dial to, say A (aperture priority) and fire away with autofocus and other standard settings that I would normally use. 

All the photos of me in action below were taken by fellow friend and photographer blogger Tian Chad. Do give his blog a visit, he has got some amazing photography happening there too. Take note that these images were taken one week ago, during my visit to the KL Butterfly Park to shoot some images which were used for my OM-D E-M10 Mark II review. 

Photo Credit: Tian Chad

Holding the camera + lens on one hand, and viewing through the EVF to confirm focus, while my other hand holds the flash with mini softbox mounted. Flash was fired wirelessly

Photo Credit: Tian Chad

Varying the distance of the flash from the subject can affect the outcome of the photographs. 

Photo Credit: Tian Chad

Very, very important to review the images! Chimping is mandatory in shooting insect macro photography. YOU MUST CHIMP.

Photo Credit: Tian Chad

That was a pass. Moving on to the next shot.  

1/160sec, F10, ISO200, Wireless Flash Fired

A few notes and facts about my macro shooting:

It is recommended to use this technique with smaller camera system setup.

If you have a gigantic full frame camera, you may want to consider other options, eg using a tripod, or monopod, and different way to light your subject instead of holding the flash with your hand. Holding the camera single-handedly worked well with Olympus, because of the lighter and smaller size, as well as the versatility of built in 5-Axis Image Stabilization. 

Insect Macro Photography is physically challenging. 

In general, macro photography itself is a physically demanding if shooting hand-held. You need to stand, squat or do anything in between in the most awkward positions to get your shots, as the subjects never stayed at your eye level for you to shoot. 

Just get a Macro Lens

If you are considering to venture deep into the world of macro photography, a word of advise, just get a macro lens. I have tried numerous methods: reverse lens mount adapter, close up +4 filter, extension tubes, all these on non macro lenses. The results are usually not good enough, or extremely difficult to use in real life shooting conditions. You may add extension tubes or further magnification on a true macro lens, but having a macro lens will save you so much trouble. I have been there, I know. 

For newcomers to photography, learning macro photography will improve your technical knowledge and control of the camera

You will need to deal with extreme magnification, finding ways to stabilize the camera, using proper hand-holding techniques, using advanced flash controls with aid of diffusing or reflecting the light. All these lessons learned can be applied all across other photography genres. Some people asked me how I can achieve critical focus in my street shooting and nail my focus accurately with such high hit rate. Believe me, if you have done all you can to get accurate focus in insect macro photography, you will prioritize and  take care of your focus accuracy in everything else you shoot with your camera. Same with exposure, and lighting. My street photography, at least the technical controls were benefited from my macro shooting days. 

Drinking Water

You will lose plenty of sweat shooting macro. Having drinking water is a must. Just like any other physical activities (at least true in hot tropical countries like Malaysia)

1/80sec, F4, ISO1600, No Flash used

1/160sec, F13, ISO200, Wireless Flash fired

1/160sec, F8, ISO200, Wireless Flash Fired

1/125sec, F7.1, ISO200, Wireless Flash Fired

1/125sec, F8, ISO200, Wireless Flash Fired

1/125sec, F16, ISO200, Wireless Flash Fired

1/200sec, F4, ISO250, No Flash used

I hope some of you have found my sharing on insect macro photography useful. This is after all, just an update, with minor changes of what I have already shared before. Nothing is entirely new here, but I thought a refresh would be good, and especially true for new visitors to this blog. 

Please support this blog by liking my Facebook page here